Chamber Holiday Party for the 1% This Thursday

This Thursday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be holding its annual, lavish holiday party at its Washington D.C. headquarters. If past parties are any indication, the Chamber - perhaps its AIG-sponsored “Hall of Flags” - will likely be filled with Chamber staffers, lobbyists, lawmakers, and Chamber member company reps eating, drinking and being merry.

Past reports and photos of the party depict - in our interpretation - the epitome of an elite gathering of the 1%, for the 1%, by the 1%. And hosted by the 1%, namely Chamber CEO Tom Donohue, who as it was reported last month, earned his highest-ever compensation of $4.7 million, during a year when he constantly pointed to the economic crisis and called out public employees’ “over-bloated” compensation in his stump speeches.

As CEOs and lawmakers presumably sit on the Chamber-hired Santa’s lap tomorrow and perhaps ask him for the Chamber to give them and their corporations “all the deniability” they need in the coming election year, keep in mind that anytime you see “sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce” or “supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce” what you are really seeing is “sponsored by the 1%” - bought and paid for by corporate interests.

And a word to the Chamber’s Santa: Don’t worry if you forget your fake beard for the party this year, the Chamber’s got you covered.